Donor Drama

As I was pondering AF yesterday (yes, I do that all the time these days, and no, still no sign of her – yay!) it occurred to me that I only have one vial of swimmers left at my RE’s office. Having only one vial makes me nervous: what if I go through all the scans and blood draws and meds next cycle, only to find that something was wrong with the last vial I have left? I looked online, and saw that my donor only has IUI ready vials (meaning the swimmers have been washed already) available. My clinic insists on washing all swimmers before an IUI, so they had suggested that I always buy the cheaper, unwashed ICI vials. So I called the Cyrobank, and asked when my donor might have more ICI vials available. She checked and cheerfully said, “Never, this donor has been retired.”

Yikes! What to do? I called my RE’s office and talked to Patsy, the coordinator for the lab, to ask her if they really do insist on washing all vials, even the IUI ones. She told me that they actually don’t, but that in their lab the IUI specimens don’t seem to be as good as the ICI vials.  But since I have a proven track record with my donor, and I’m a little attached to him, she suggested I go ahead and buy two of the IUI ready vials as back up for next time. Then she reminded me that if I eventually go the IVF route, they require I have at least two vials on hand, just in case.

After I finished talking with Patsy, I called the Cryobank, and spent a lot of money I hadn’t planned on spending this month on 2 vials of swimmers. And then I started to have a minor crisis about my future plans for TTC. What if I try two IUIs, they don’t work and I have to go to IVF? I’ll have to order another vial of swimmers – and then what if my donor is all used up? Maybe I should try just one IUI before IVF?  Or maybe I should just skip right to IVF now? Or maybe I should stop driving myself crazy and think about something else?

I took the last suggestion, slept on my minor crisis, and woke up feeling much calmer this morning. With a clear head, I was able to remind myself just how expensive IVF really is, and that I've gotten pregnant with an IUI once, so there's no reason to think I can't do it again. Now I’m back to my original plan of two IUIs and then on to IVF (because, as several people have pointed out, I'm not getting any younger!)  If I have to use the IUI ready vial and it has iffy swimmers, I’ll have them thaw both vials and mix them. And if I have to go on to IVF, and my donor is all used up, I’ll order my second choice donor. And if he’s all used up…I guess I’ll have to have another “Who’s Your Daddy” party to choose a new donor!

As my sister pointed out, this would have all been a lot easier if I’d just picked up a hot guy at the beach last weekend. I’m pretty sure I was ovulating. ;)